The Twins appeared in the World Series in 1965 losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games and won the World Series in 1987 and 1991 against the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves respectively. The Twins' 1991 Series against the Braves is considered by many fans and baseball historians to be one of the greatest World Series of all time. In addition to the World Series appearances, the Twins were one of four teams in contention for the American League pennant during the famous four-team race of 1967, and won the first two AL Western Division titles in 1969 and 1970 but fell to the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series both years. The Twins then fell upon tough times in the early 1980s, when an aging Calvin Griffith refused to spent money on improving the on-field product and threatened to move out of Minnesota before selling out his interests to businessman Carl Pohlad in 1984. The change in ownership had an immediate positive impact. The two World Series wins came under manager Tom Kelly, who stayed at the helm until 2001, but he saw the Twins fall out of contention after their early run of success under his direction. The club was spared from contraction along with the Montréal Expos in 2002, when local authorities threatened to sue Major League Baseball over breaking the lease at the Metrodome. MLB backed down, saving the two franchises as a result.

The Twins immediately went on a fruitful run under new manager Ron Gardenhire, winning the AL Central division title for three straight years from 2002 to 2004, and again in 2006. They lost a one-game playoff to the Chicago White Sox in 2008, but made a great late-season run in 2009 to force a one-game playoff with the Detroit Tigers, which they won. However, all of these division titles were not followed by postseason success: only in 2002 did the Twins win a Division Series, all their other appearances resulting in quick exits. In 2010, the Twins won another division title, and once again fell to the New York Yankees in the first round of the postseason.

Harder times followed, as the Twins fell back to last place in 2011, and remained there for the next few years. Gardenhire was let go after the 2014 season and replaced by local boy Paul Molitor, a member of the Hall of Fame. In Molitor's first year at the helm in 2015, the Twins were surprisingly in contention for the AL Central title for a good part of the year, bringing hope that a return to the postseason was not far away.

Charlie Beattie: "The Legacy of Twins Legends: Killebrew, Carew, Puckett, and Mauer", in Daniel R. Leavitt, ed.: Short but Wondrous Summers: Baseball in the North Star State, The National Pastime, SABR, Number 42, 2012, pp. 88-92.

John Bonnes: "The Minnesota Twins Story", in Daniel R. Leavitt, ed.: Short but Wondrous Summers: Baseball in the North Star State, The National Pastime, SABR, Number 42, 2012, pp. 56-62.

Daniel R. Levitt: "A Surprising Disappointment: The Minnesota Twins of the Late 1960s", in Daniel R. Leavitt, ed.: Short but Wondrous Summers: Baseball in the North Star State, The National Pastime, SABR, Number 42, 2012, pp. 71-75.